Towards a sustainable support strategy for online students

English: Steph's Rol Model (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This was a presentation given by Elizabeth Smith and Anne Lonie. The objective of the course is to introduce students to engineering, and the professional sustainable practice that goes alongside the engineering skills. Some of the personal attributes that are covered are effective teamwork. cross-cultural sensitivity, and effective presentations. There are 3 assessment tasks that are part of the course, including an individual report (15%), an individual development portfolios (35%), and engineers without borders group project (50%). These activities worked well on-campus, but did not translate well to the online environment. Commencement of teaching - 39 students, week 6 - 29, by week 13 - 26 were still enrolled...and only 6 passed the course.

A range of strategies were trialled around offering the students support in an effort to support students and help with retention and success.

Reflective practice was an issue, so to help students get started a video was put together, along with, for example, detailed hings and open ended sentences. This provided an opportunity for early formative feedback. Students struggled with the progressive nature of the course too. The discussion forums were quite successful with a high contribution rate. To support the early stages of teamwork there was an introductory forum for students to respond to, as well as the use of an ice breaker wiki, virtual helpdesk sessions, and a Belbin inventory. Out of 6 groups, only 1 group completed the assessment successfully. The successful group made regular use of the collaborative tools, the online forums, and had an obvious leader who was motivated.

To improve the course there are plans to reduce the scope of the group project, and students will be able to submit work progressively. Tutor training in providing efficient and effective feedback is important, and the re-structuring of the course so that support resources are obvious.

This was a refreshingly honest overview of something that didn't work, and where the presenters are going to use their findings to address the issues.

Portfolios have long been a part of learning, teaching and professional practice, therefore, why use ePortfolios and do Web 2.0 tools have to offer?

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Abstract: "This paper will showcase what was, at the time, effective practice, whereby Foundation students at Dubai Men's College (DMC) developed a Career ePortfolio as part of an integrated Computer, Research Skills and Projects Course. Some students were able to use their ePortfolio to obtain summer jobs and work placement, and reflective practice was encouraged through discussion, use of rubrics, and peer feedback. However, the ePortfolios were not interactive or easily portable, and the final artifact was produced for assessment.

Several benefits beyond the 'static' ePortfolio utilised at DMC have been identified, in particular around those created with Web 2.0 social software. Key positive outcomes indicated in recent research studies include increased and improved reflective practice, enhancement in the quality of final artifact (partly facilitated by multimedia and mobility), a clear authentic purpose, and a greater sense of audience. The audience is often interactive thereby helping to shift the locus of power from the teacher as knower?. Designed around experiences at DMC and the benefits mentioned, pre-pilot initiatives were undertaken at Unitec NZ in 2008, and a larger-scale pilot is planned for 2009. Underpinning these initiatives are a range of issues around assessment practices, Web 2.0 tools, professional development, and ethical considerations. This session will describe developments at Unitec NZ, as well as soliciting feedback, input and discussion from the audience around these and other associated aspects of ePortfolios."

Slideshare presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/hazelowendmc/portfolios-have-long-been-a-part-of-learning-teaching-and-professional-practice-therefore-why-use-eportfolios-and-do-web-20-tools-have-to-offer

Accompanying resource document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/11966163/Resources-for-ePortfolios

Please cite as: Owen, H. (2009, February 8-10). Portfolios have long been a part of learning, teaching and professional practice, therefore, why use ePortfolios and do Web 2.0 tools have to offer? Paper presented at the Australian ePortfolio Symposium 2009.

Noel on Blogging

This week I went to watch a presentation by Noel ((a third year BDesign student), who was talking about his blog and the experiences he had had using it. After chatting with us for a few minutes, and mentioning how nervous he was he proceeded to confidently showcase his blog to a lecture theatre with about 30 first year students in it. It was superb - he covered how, with Vox, different levels of security could be assigned to each post, how feedback from peers and lecturers was rapid and could be done anywhere, and how each step of a project could be shown in his blog. He also mentioned more in depth discussions, group work, summaries, and even demonstrated how he could take a picture with his mobile phone and upload it there and then. The only downside was the time that blogging took if it was to be done well - but maybe when offset against more traditional ways of project-building, it might not be such a great investment in time, it just seems that way as it is done nearly every day. This is an awesome resource for folk who are trying to persuade faculty why blogs are a good way to go. Many thanks to Noel (and to Thom Cochrane for posting the footage :-)